The Supreme Court of India has passed the Rule that from this year onwards in all Kendriya Vidyalayas across India, Sanskrit Language will be introduced as the third language in place of German but no exams will be conducted for Sanskrit in the current academic session, informed The Hindu citing a ruling passed by bench of Justices comprising Anil R Dave and Kurian Joseph.

The decision not to conduct exams for Sanskrit was taken, since the subject was introduced in the middle of the session and the exam in Sanskrit would create an additional burden on the students.

The MoU between Max Mueller and KV

German had been introduced as a third subject in all KV’s owing to a memorandum of understanding, MoU signed between Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and Goethe Institute/Max Mueller Bhavan in 2011 for teaching German as the third language. However, such a move was stated as illegal and in violation of the National Education Policy.

The matter had come into light when the MoU was set for renewal.

About 70,000 students across 500 KVs from classes 6 to 8 had opted for studying German as the optional subject. They will now face the dilemma of switching languages from German to Sanskrit.

The Third Language Mandate

The government's three-language formula for schools mandates that the third language should be an Indian language. The National Curriculum Framework 2005 states that Sanskrit may be studied as a modern Indian language apart from Hindi and English. So studying German as an option for Sankrit was in violation to NEP.

Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi said, “The matter was raised in Parliament yesterday [on Thursday dated December 11, 2014]. No exam will be held for students studying Sanskrit as the third language this year. Students can also learn German as an optional subject.” In future students may still study German as an additional subject of hobby class.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has issued a new circular which involves teaching a third language apart from English and Hindi as a subject in CBSE schools. The decision is taken as a corrective measure in accordance with the National Policy on Education. The third language can be Sanskrit or any other modern Indian language.

However, the CBSE schools are not following the three language formula, despite the new directive, informed an official.